In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
With one billion people on the move or having moved in 2018, migration is a global reality, which has also become a political lightning rod. Although estimates indicate that the majority of global migration occurs within low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), the most prominent dialogue focuses almost exclusively on migration …
Bringing the Concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture to Life: Insights from CSA Country Profiles across Africa, Asia, and Latin America The Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Country Profile Series assesses climate change challenges and solutions in the agricultural sectors of more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean …
The ten successful case studies show how the CSA approach has been applied in the regional context to benefit both the agricultural sectors and farming communities. By definition, the CSA approach pursues three pillars: to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and improve farmers’ incomes; to build resilience and adaptation to climate …
If current trends continue, some of the lower-altitude glaciers of the tropical Andes could lose between 78 and 97% of their volume by the end of the century, reducing the region’s available freshwater resources. These alarming data are from the Water Atlas launched by UNESCO during the COP24 in Katowice …
This discussion paper introduces a series of studies on the effects of climate change on agriculture in Central America and the Andean region. It presents a coherent logic as to why climate change is important to the regions not only for agriculture but also regarding the issues of unemployment, food …
In view of the potential impact of the 2018/19 El Niño on food security and agriculture, high risk countries in Southern Africa, Horn of Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America should be prioritized for further monitoring, analysis and early action. This advisory on the 2018/19 El Niño, issued …
CDKN launches Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guide as a draft for discussion – and invites readers to share their experiences of communicating climate change in developing countries. Readers’ stories and suggestions will be incorporated into a future edition, to be produced in 2019-20. The guide shares tips for communicating …
A third of all waste generated in cities of Latin America and the Caribbean ends up in open dumps or in the environment, polluting soil, water and air, and threatening the health of the population, according to a UN Environment report. 145,000 tons are inadequately disposed every day in the …
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Low Carbon Economy Index (LCEI) 2018 finds that national decarbonization rates do not match the level needed to achieve commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change. The top performing countries on the Index are China, Mexico, Argentina and the UK, all of which grew their economies while …
Agriculture is one of the sectors that has greatly benefitted from the establishment of climate services. In Colombia, interannual climate variability can disrupt agricultural production, lower farmers' incomes and increase market prices. Increasing demand thus exists for agro-climatic services in the country. Fulfilling such demand requires robust and consistent approaches …
A new pilot initiative, the Global Climate City Challenge, will seek to address technical preparation and financing for cities across the world to strengthen investment in green projects and programs essential to improving regional resilience to climate change. The new initiative was launched on the sidelines of the Global Climate …
Using fossil fuels to provide transport, power industries, agriculture and cities threatens the climate with anticipated consequences for ecosystems, the economy and society as a whole. Yet access to energy improves lives and is necessary for social development. This is especially important for less developed regions in Africa and Latin …
Brazil, already a farm powerhouse, will account for an estimated 70 percent of the world’s arable land growth through 2050, Alan Bojanic, a representative for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said during a conference on Monday.Bojanic, addressing the Global Agribusiness Forum in São Paulo, said the UN …
Rural and indigenous communities worldwide must wade through decades of red tape to secure property rights while companies can win those rights within weeks, putting local people at grave risk of losing their homelands, researchers said on Wednesday. Lacking legal claim to their property leaves communities vulnerable to being pushed …
Freshwater availability is changing worldwide. Here we quantify 34 trends in terrestrial water storage observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites during 2002–2016 and categorize their drivers as natural interannual variability, unsustainable groundwater consumption, climate change or combinations thereof. Several of these trends had been lacking thorough …
Economic globalization and concomitant growth in international trade since the late 1990s have profoundly reorganized global production activities and related CO2 emissions. Here we show trade among developing nations (i.e., South–South trade) has more than doubled between 2004 and 2011, which reflects a new phase of globalization. Some production activities …
The FAO is the lead United Nations agency on the sustainable use of forests, and the voluntary guidelines refer to so-called forest concessions; laws and policies that allow local communities and private individuals or businesses to use forested land in return for payment or services. The aim is to make …
Obligate river dolphins occur only in the rivers of Asia and South America, where they are increasingly subject to damaging pressures such as habitat degradation, food competition and entanglement in fishing gear as human populations expand. The Amazon basin hosts two, very different, dolphins—the boto or Amazon river dolphin (Inia …
This technical report, Progress and Opportunities of Reducing Short-lived Climate Pollutants across Latin America and the Caribbean, reviews examples of initiatives and measures that have successfully reduced emissions of black carbon, methane and some hydrofluorocarbons in Latin America and the Caribbean, the three short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) considered by the …
With more than 70 percent of its population living in cities, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is among the most urbanized regions in the world. Yet, although its cities are, on average, more productive than those elsewhere in the world, their productivity lags that of North American and Western …
